Staying in Wonder of Jesus: Lessons from Mark 2

Introduction

We're going to be in Mark 2. I do invite you, if you would like and if you're able to stand with me in honor of the reading of God's word. We're going to Mark chapter 2, beginning in verse one, and we're going to read on through verse 12.

Scripture Reading: Mark 2:1-12

The word of God says, "And again he entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that he was in the house. Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And he preached the word to them. Then they came to him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, 'Son, your sins are forgiven you.' And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 'Why does this man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?' But immediately, when Jesus perceived in his spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, he said to them, 'Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, "Your sins are forgiven you," or to say, "Arise, take up your bed, and walk"? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins,' he said to the paralytic, 'I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.' Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, 'We never saw anything like this.'"

Father God, thank you for your word. And God, thank you for how amazing and how awesome and how mighty you are. God, thank you for the privilege and the blessing of getting to gather here to worship you today. Thank you for each one you brought here today. And God, as we continue to worship through the word of God, through preaching of the word of God, God, I pray your word penetrate our hearts. And God, I pray if there's somebody in this place today listening today in need of salvation, I pray the truth of the word and the gospel message of Jesus Christ would penetrate their heart, and they would give their life to you today, Lord Jesus. God, I pray for all of us as believers, work inside of us to mold us and to shape us more and more into your image so that we live more and more for you. We love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. All God's people said, go ahead and be seated.

Are You Still in Wonder of Jesus?

When we think about the wonder of Jesus, and think about what our kids, a lot of kids this week just talked about, and we think about this passage in Mark 2, I've got a question for you: Are you still in wonder of Jesus, or have you lost your wonder? You know what I mean? Are you still awed by God, or have you lost your amazement and awe for God? Are you still in wonder of Jesus?

If you flip back to Mark one, you'll see that there in Mark 1, there's several miracles that Jesus does that are awesome, that are mighty. On night three, that's one thing our kids learned about, the wonder of his miracles. I mean, you look at any one of these miracles, and they are a wonder. They will make you be in awe if you were to be there and you were to see that.

Mark one, Jesus, he heals a man with an unclean spirit in the synagogue. Y'all, most of y'all probably remember that passage where he's in the synagogue, and there's a man with an unclean spirit, and Jesus heals them. It says in Mark 1, verse 27, again, the chapter before the one we read from, that the people, they were all amazed. They saw this unclean spirit come out of this man, and this man was healed.

Well, then we know in Mark one, after Jesus healed that man of the unclean spirit, where did he go? Well, he went to lunch, like all of us do after church, right? He went to Peter's, to Peter's mother-in-law. And Peter's mother-in-law, she had a, what, a lot of y'all know that story in the, that's in Mark 1, she had a fever. She was ill with the fever to the point that you get the feeling she might be near death. She was very, very sick. And Jesus went to the home of her, and he healed her, and she was healed so immediately that she immediately began to serve them. A lot of us might be like, "Well, man, you've been sick, I don't want to eat after you've been serving me." But no, Jesus healed her. She was healed.

Then it says later that night, after the Sabbath had ended, again, this is in Mark one, before where we just read from, later that night, the whole town in Capernaum, they knew where Jesus was at the home he was at, and just everybody came there in that town. Why did they come there? They were in wonder of Jesus. They were in awe of Jesus. And they came there, and the Bible says that Jesus healed many people of all kinds of sickness, of various kinds of sicknesses, and he cast out many demons. Jesus had had a busy day, right?

Well, as we go on in Mark 1, we see the next morning, Jesus rose up early, and he withdrew to a desert place. Isn't that something? If the Lord needed to get along with the Father, all the more we need to find time to get along, right? And we can't try to say we're busier than Jesus, okay? We can't. I don't care how busy you or I are. I don't think we're busier than the Lord was in his ministry. He had had a jam-packed day, not just with all the moments, but think about that: casting out a demon, casting out demons, cleaning a man with an unclean spirit, healing a woman who was sick with a fever near death, having people of all kinds of people come to his home, and he's healing them all. Don't you know he had to be drained?

So the early the next morning, he gets up, and he finds a desolate place. But then Peter finds him, and Peter's like, they're looking for him. They're like, there's people everywhere looking for you. Come on, we need your help. Why were all these people looking for Jesus? Because they were in wonder. They were in awe of Jesus. They were overwhelmed with how amazing he was, and they wanted to be around him. They were looking for Jesus. They were in wonder of Jesus.

We then see at the end of Mark 1, Jesus healed a leper, and it says at this point, he could no longer enter a town because people were coming to him from every quarter. Why were they coming to Jesus from every which way? Because they were in awe of Jesus. They were in wonder of Jesus, all that he was doing. They were in total wonder, total awe.

What about you? If you're a believer today, are you still in wonder and in awe of Jesus, or have you lost your awe for Jesus? Hey, who remembers when they got saved? When you got saved, were you in awe of Jesus? Do you remember how you felt, the way God changed you? If you truly got saved, if you truly got saved, you were changed. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he's a new creation. Do you ever remember just that feeling in those weeks after it, those days after it? Was anybody like me where they were just on fire for the Lord? Was anybody just had the presence of God where they just wanted to be with God all the time? Do you know what I mean, anybody like that?

Well, let me ask you this: Have you ever had times in your Christian walk where you've kind of lost that awe and that wonder of Jesus? Today, are you still in wonder and in awe of Jesus, or have you lost your wonder?

Lessons from Mark 2: Staying in Wonder

The passage that we read today, Mark 2, I believe we can kind of be reminded of a few things that should show up in our lives when we are still in wonder of Jesus, when we are still in awe of Jesus. And maybe as we're thinking about this, maybe it'll speak to you. Maybe you've lost your wonder. Maybe you're just kind of feeling like you're just kind of going through the motions, and you've kind of lost your awe of God, and you need to get refueled today.

1. Desire to Spend Time with Jesus

I tell you one thing about somebody when they are in wonder and in awe of Jesus: they desire to spend time with Jesus. Somebody that is in awe of Jesus and in wonder of Jesus, they want to be with Jesus. In this text, we see, Jesus, in Mark one, we read all those things from Mark one, those miracles where people were following him. Well, it said some days later, he came to Capernaum after some days. That's what the opening part of our passage today says: "And again he entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that he was in the house." What does that mean, it was heard that he was in the house? In other words, now Jesus is in Capernaum, he's in a different town, and the people heard he was in a certain house.

So what did the people do? It says in verse two, immediately, immediately, many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. These people in this town heard that Jesus was there. They heard where he was at, and they were immediately running and going to that house. There was no more room in that house. Why? Because I believe they were in wonder of Jesus. I believe they were in awe of Jesus and all that he was doing, and they wanted to be with Jesus.

What about you? Do you still want to be with Jesus? Are you still in wonder of Jesus, or are you still in awe of Jesus, or have you lost your wonder? The Bible says that they were gathered there, they were immediately gathered there, they were in awe because they wanted to be with Jesus. Hey, today, for you, if you're a Christian, are you still craving to be with Jesus? Are you in such wonder of Jesus that you can't wait to get up, and when you get up, you want to be with the Lord? Hey, are you still so in wonder and in awe of Jesus that you're so excited when you're coming to church because you get to worship with the saints? Are you just kind of coming and kind of just kind of going through the motions to go because you go on Sunday? Are you still in wonder of Jesus?

When somebody's in wonder of Jesus and in awe of Jesus, they can't wait to be with Jesus. But I tell you, we got to be on guard because we've got flesh. We got the spirit of God inside of us, but we got flesh too, amen. Hey, upstairs in youth today, that's what Wayne was talking about, the fruit of the spirit. And if you go to Galatians 5, where you read about the fruit of the spirit in Galatians 5:22 and 23, what do you see right before it, beginning in verse 19, I believe? You see the works of the flesh. And what do you see is written about that right before that by Paul under the inspiration of God? He says, "The flesh and the spirit, they war against one another." We got to walk by the spirit, not by the flesh. But if we are in wonder of Jesus, we will want to be with Jesus, and when we are with Jesus, we will be helped to walk with Jesus. Are you still in wonder of Jesus?

Somebody that's in wonder of Jesus, they want to spend time with the Lord. Hey, when you think about your days, each day during the week, are you, what is on your agenda for Monday, and what's on your agenda for Tuesday, and does that include time with Jesus? Is time with Jesus a non-negotiable? Someone that's in wonder of Jesus is going to make time with Jesus. But you know what happens a lot to us as Christians? We can easily start to lose our wonder, and before you know it, we're not even taking time with Jesus. And we wonder why we fall into sin, we wonder why we struggle, we wonder where our joy for the Lord is. We got to get our wonder back. When you are in wonder of Jesus, you will want to be with Jesus. These people filled this home immediately because they were in wonder and in awe of Jesus.

2. Desire to Hear from the Lord

I tell you what else, when somebody's in wonder of Jesus, you will want to hear from the Lord. You know, in the passage we read today, in verse two, it says that many were gathered there, and what does it say that Jesus did while they were gathered there? It says that he preached the word to them. Now, the people were packed in that house. Hey, have y'all ever heard anybody in church complain about, I don't know, maybe the chairs aren't soft enough? They're pretty soft in here, but you heard it. You probably heard all kinds of things in church, right? Man, it's too hot, it's too cold, the pews are not comfortable, I don't have enough space. So we got enough space. These people were packed in this house, and Jesus was preaching the word to them. I don't think they had much room. I don't think, and I'm not saying the Bible says this, but if you're packed in a house, a lot of you probably can't sit, a lot of you are probably arm to arm like this, you're probably hot. But I don't know, but I don't think they had AC back then. Now, I don't know what time of year it was, but they were either hot or cold, one, probably hot 'cause they're all packed in there. But you know what I think? I think they were so in wonder of Jesus that they were going to keep hearing the message as long as it went.

Man, here, sometimes we'll be like, "Man, it's 12:00, preacher, you got to end the sermon, you got to quit." I know some people might have emergencies or might have plans, but really, if we're so dead set on having to get out of church right at 12, are we really in wonder of Jesus? Are we really in awe of Jesus? And I get it that Jesus isn't walking on the earth with us, but he left his church, and part of his plan is for his church to worship, to gather to worship God. Are we really in wonder of Jesus if, or are we more in wonder of our lunch? Are we hungry for the word, or are we more hungry for Sunday lunch? Sometimes we can act like we're more hungry for Sunday lunch than about for the word of God. But I want to say, when somebody's in wonder of Jesus, they're more hungry to hear from God and to get fed with the word of God than they are to get fed with the Sunday lunch.

Jesus, you know what he did after being in the synagogue and healing a man with an unclean spirit? He went to somebody's home, but I don't even know if he ate lunch. I know that he did, after he did his work, he healed her, then she served them. When we're in wonder and in awe of Jesus, we'll want to hear from God. And just like that group there, I don't know how long Jesus preached that day, but I don't think any of them were going to leave until he finished. That's my personal opinion. They were in there, they were so in wonder of Jesus, they were packed in that place.

Man, about you know, we ought to be so in wonder of Jesus that we want to be with God's people, and we want to worship, and we want to hear from God. When somebody is in the wonder of Jesus, they'll want to spend time with Jesus, and they'll want to hear from his word. And when I also think about hearing from his word, I just think about how important, when somebody's in wonder of Jesus, they'll want to make time to hear from Jesus through prayer. Because you know, when we take time to pray to God, any of y'all ever have those times you hear from God? I mean, there's so many times when we just slow down and we take time for God in prayer, we get to hear from God. What a blessing that is, that we get to hear from God who created the heavens and the earth.

But sometimes we can lose our wonder, and we don't even take time to pray. We miss out on one of the greatest things we have in our Christian walk: time with God. I wonder today, are you so in wonder of Jesus that you're taking time, blocking out time with God to pray and to hear from God? Because when we're in wonder of Jesus, we want to hear from God, we want to be with God, and one way we're going to be with him, one way we're going to hear from him is through prayer.

I tell you what else, we want to take time to be in his word. You know, we are doing a through the Bible study that many people are doing, and we're going to go to the first, I think, 75 chapters in Psalms this Wednesday night. But do your best to read them before this Wednesday. If you don't read them, we still want you to come out. Don't let that keep you from coming out. But I tell you, when we're in wonder and in awe of Jesus, we want to be with the Lord, and we want to hear from the Lord, and another way that happens is when we are in the word of God. And I'll tell you, you know who the best teacher is? Is the Holy Spirit. And when you take time alone with God to pour into the word, and you take time, and you put your phone away, and I'm not against being on my phone or your phone when you're reading the Bible, but I know for me, I get distractions pop up. I see Facebook, I see notifications. But when I don't have that phone around, I'm just seeing the word of God for me. You know what I mean? Like, when we take time to be in the word, we're going to hear from God.

I don't know, but I think what can happen to us sometimes is we kind of start to lose our wonder. We kind of start to lose our awe for God, and we stop making time for God, and we stop day-to-day hearing from God. I tell you, I think a good way we can tell how much we are in wonder and in awe of God is, are we spending time with God each day? Are we taking time? Are we craving to be with God, and are we craving to hear from God? And I know people get busy, but I'm going to tell you what, God has a way of working things out when you put him first. Are you still in wonder?

3. Faith in Jesus

I tell you what else, when you're in wonder of Jesus, you have faith in Jesus. First, you place your faith in Jesus. When you're in wonder of Jesus, you trust fully in Jesus as Lord and Savior. And secondly, when you're in wonder of Jesus, you have faith that all things are possible through the Lord. We see here that in verse three, it says, "They came to him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. And when they could not come near him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where he was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying." They tore the roof off. Talk about having faith. They couldn't get in with their paralytic man, so they got up on the roof, they tore the roof off, and they brought the man down to Jesus that way. That is some faith.

You get the picture that these four, and by what Jesus says, they had such faith in Jesus, they were in wonder of Jesus and in awe of Jesus, that they had such faith that they said, "We're going to get our paralytic friend to Jesus." If we can just get them to Jesus. And Jesus, it says in verse 5, when he saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." You get the feeling the Lord saw what they did, and they, and kind of thought, "Wow, y'all got some awesome faith." You get the feeling Jesus was pleased, and he tells that man the greatest thing, and he does the greatest thing you could do for somebody: he forgives the man of his sins.

I tell you, and there's a lot of physical things we can go through that are hard, but they're not forever. Eternity is forever. And isn't it amazing how God made a way that you and I could be forgiven of sins, and that way is through faith in Jesus? There's only one way, and if you've never called on Jesus today, I pray you would today. We are all sinners, we are all flawed, we all fall short of the glory of God, but that's why Jesus came. That's why Jesus suffered, that's why he died, that's why he rose on the third day. And anybody who fully believes in him will be forgiven of sins and will be saved.

But we see that there's some that they hear Jesus say this, and in their hearts, they're kind of saying to themselves, who does he think he is? He's blaspheming God. They say he can't forgive sins, only God can. But it says that Jesus, it says in verse eight, perceived in his spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves. He said to them, "Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, 'Your sins are forgiven you,' or to say, 'Arise, take up your bed, and walk'? But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins," he said to the paralytic, "I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house." Immediately he arose. Talk about glorious. This man that's a paralytic that can't walk, nothing is impossible with God. And these friends knew nothing was impossible with God. They were in awe of the Lord, they were in wonder of Jesus, and they had faith in Jesus. Because of their wonder of Jesus, they tore the roof off, and their friend was, his sins were forgiven, and their friend was able to get up and walk because nothing is impossible with the Lord.

It says, immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of all of them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God. They were in awe of God, they were in wonder of Jesus. The scribes, experts in the law, they didn't have faith in Jesus, but Jesus said, "Well, well, let me show you which is harder to do, to forgive sins or to get them to rise up and walk." And Jesus was basically saying, "It's a lot more to forgive somebody's sins for eternity." But Jesus said, "Just so you'll know, watch this." And this man who was a paralytic was miraculously healed, and they were amazed, and they were in wonder of Jesus, they were in awe of Jesus.

When somebody is in wonder of Jesus and in awe of Jesus, they will want to spend time with Jesus. And when somebody's in wonder and in awe of Jesus, they will want to hear from the Lord. And when somebody is in wonder and in awe of Jesus, they will have faith in the Lord. They will have faith, they will call on Jesus and believe in Jesus, and they will believe that anything is possible with God. They had faith in Jesus.

Conclusion: Don't Lose Your Wonder

I wonder today, are you still in wonder of Jesus, or have you lost your wonder? Maybe you've been a Christian 10, 20, 30, 40 years, and you're sitting here, and you're saying, "Man, I think I've lost my wonder." I'm not saying you've lost your salvation, just saying maybe you've kind of lost some of your wonder. I just want to close just by saying, I hope we're all encouraged: don't lose your wonder of Jesus. Don't you lose your awe of Jesus.

Did God save you? Take a moment and think about when God saved you and how you felt after being born again. Are you still in awe of Jesus like that, or do you find yourself today maybe have lost some of the wonder and some of the awe of Jesus? And you know, if that's you, and maybe you're here today, and you kind of feel like you're in a little rut in your walk with God, there's a lot I think that can help us. One thing is, we're going to have a time of invitation. Just get up here and call out to God. You can call out to God from where you're at too, but come down here to the altar and pour your heart out to the Lord.

I tell you what else, just take time with the Lord. When we take time with the Lord daily, it feeds the God inside of us. Take time for prayer, take time, like carve out some time so you make Jesus first. Don't try to just fit in Jesus. It's like tithing: we're not just to give after we pay for all our bills. No, he said give to God first. That's how we tithe. It's the same with our time with the Lord. We take time for God first. If you're struggling today, and you've lost some of your awe of Jesus, maybe today you just want to pray, come down here and pray, and say, "God, help me make time for prayer, help me make time for the word."

And I tell you what else, when we take time to share the gospel with people, it'll fire us up. It'll, and when we take time to share the gospel and to serve Jesus, it will fire us up. I again, I'll just close by saying, are you still in wonder of Jesus, or have you lost your wonder?